Foot wear, such as shoes, boots, and the like commonly use conventional shoe laces to secure the foot wear to the foot of an individual. A drawback associated with conventional laces is that it is often difficult to maintain tension on the lace, as the wearer must check and tighten the lace from each of the many eyelets through which the laces are threaded and then tie the laces into a knot. Maintaining desired tension can also be hindered by the friction between the lace and the eyelets. Consequently, the user must often tighten the lace individually through each of the eyelets before tying. This is especially tedious if the number of eyelets is high, such as in running shoes or cleats and other specialized high performance footwear.
Another drawback associated with conventional laces is that they frequently become untied and loose from the shoe during use. This can be troublesome in everyday scenarios, but is dangerous to the point of injury in athletic activities. An individual or another player can step on the loose show laces causing falls and painful injuries. This problem is especially prevalent with young athletes which may not be skilled at tying their laces or may not fully understand their importance.
Therefore, a need exists for novel tightening systems for footwear. There is a further need novel lacing systems for footwear that may be tightened without requiring tying of the laces. Finally, there exists a need for novel tieless footwear lacing systems that are able to maintain desired tension on the laces during a wide variety of athletic activities.